A Wondrous World Creation

Li Fan himself was currently only at the Nascent Soul realm. Yet ever since the Spirit Wood Realm's initial development and ascension, he had continuously used formation refining to deepen his control over this pocket world. Now, having assimilated and merged other pocket worlds like the Empire, the Spirit Wood Realm was not much smaller than an ordinary "cultivation world" of antiquity. And Li Fan, this "Nascent Soul cultivator," still maintained an iron grip over the Spirit Wood Realm. To him, it was like a refined dharma treasure; the creation and destruction of the world hung on a mere thought. To a certain degree, possessing such absolute control over the world made him a true "Spirit Wood Heavenly Venerable" in all but name. With this comparison, it was easy to understand what kind of existence the Great Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang truly was. It was just that Li Fan had taken opportunistic shortcuts, seizing control while the world was still weak and fragile. Whereas the Great Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang... "Will aligned with Heaven." Li Fan immediately thought of Mr. Bai. The scene of the Heavenly Sword Sect's sword refinement within the Fallen Immortal Realm. After Mr. Bai revealed his true strength at the Heavenly Sword Sect, the eldest senior brother had blurted in shock, "You are..." His demeanor had turned profoundly deferential thereafter, harboring no further hostility toward Mr. Bai. As the strongest in the Heavenly Sword Sect, Situ Yao was also a Longevity realm entity. For him to show such reverence, beyond sheer power, identity was likely an even more crucial factor. Moreover, nearly all the scenes Li Fan had experienced in the Fallen Immortal Realm were faintly linked to Mr. Bai, as though providing some manner of guidance or direction. This had made him hesitant to delve much further into the Fallen Immortal Realm for now. If someone claimed Mr. Bai had no relation to that fallen immortal, Li Fan would be the first to disbelieve it. ... While Li Fan was lost in thought, Dharma Transmitter Zhou continued to explain. "Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang is not the same as ordinary Longevity Heavenly Venerables." "Under the ancient method, there could be many Longevity cultivators. But Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang—in this world, there can never be more than one at any given time." "Ancient Longevity cultivators usurped the authority of the things of longevity between Heaven and Earth. But Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang has the entire authority of the Heavenly Dao vested in his person. The gap between them is immeasurable." "In fact, records previously kept by the Alliance faintly hinted that the workings of the Xuanhuang Realm's Heavenly Dao bore traces of anthropomorphism. For instance, the animas of Heaven and Earth all take human form. For another, the Heavenly Dao also exhibits emotions such as joy, anger, sorrow, and loathing—a fact glimpsed from the anomalies that appear after cultivators perish." "This is actually the influence of the Great Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang upon the operations of the Xuanhuang Realm's Heavenly Dao. Even though Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang is no longer around, that influence persists to this day." Hearing this, Li Fan instantly recalled the Heavenly Dao Bai whom he had "resurrected" by chance in the past. And the divine ability he had only recently comprehended: Feigning the Heavenly Dao. "Heaven's heart, man's will. The principles of Heaven and man..." Li Fan pondered thoughtfully. Yet his musings were soon interrupted by Zhou's subsequent words. "You should know that in an ordinary cultivation world, this scenario of 'man governing Heaven' would never occur." "At most, a cultivator might gain a certain authority over the Heavenly Dao after receiving Heaven's blessing." "The Xuanhuang Realm is extremely peculiar..." "And from the deductions of the Heavenly Profound Mirror this time, we know that this peculiar pattern of the Heavenly Dao's operation might stem from the very first Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang." "He performed certain modifications upon the Xuanhuang Realm." "It is even possible that the entire Xuanhuang Realm was created by this very Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang!" Hearing this, Li Fan froze in surprise. He had initially assumed that the first Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang mentioned by Dharma Transmitter Zhou might be the King of Profound Heaven. Yet creating the entire Xuanhuang Realm... That was clearly beyond the King of Profound Heaven's ability. Li Fan immediately pressed, "Creating Xuanhuang? What on earth does that mean?" "The entire Xuanhuang Realm is like a flawless creation. Although it has annexed other worlds for thousands of years, its core remains the Xuanhuang Realm proper from countless years ago. The reason the Heavenly Profound Mirror suffered damage to its origin was precisely that it attempted to deduce the location of the Heart of Xuanhuang, which governs the entire world." "There, a method to inherit the role of Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang might exist!" Dharma Transmitter Zhou whispered. "This was something even the Dharma-Transmitting Heavenly Venerable failed to accomplish in the past. If this Profound Heaven Sect Dharma King succeeds..." "The consequences will be unimaginable!" Li Fan sorted through his thoughts. From the clues gathered so far, the Xuanhuang Realm might indeed have been the past creation of a mighty supreme being. After ascending, this almighty figure did not take the Xuanhuang Realm along. Instead, they merely left behind a method to become the Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang and, to a certain degree, command the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao in full. The King of Profound Heaven, Mr. Bai. Both had likely been Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang in their time. From the looks of it, to become a Great Heavenly Venerable governing an entire realm, one had to satisfy certain conditions and pass the screening of the Heavenly Dao. After Mr. Bai perished, the seat of Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang remained vacant. Yet the Xuanhuang Heavenly Dao continued to maintain the world's operation according to the established patterns left behind by the former Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang. For instance, when Li Fan previously used the Great Method of Devouring the Heavens and Consuming the Earth to devour earth veins and skyrocket his cultivation, he had shattered the bottleneck of the Heavenly Calamity, only to be struck down directly by the Xuanhuang Heavenly Palm. That was a sign of the Heavenly Dao running autonomously according to predetermined rules. And now, Mo Rubin was utilizing the Heavenly Profound Mirror's formidable computational power to analyze the entire Xuanhuang Realm, attempting to locate the so-called Heart of Xuanhuang and become the next Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang. "Once he becomes Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang, he might be able to inherit the memories of past Heavenly Venerables. Then he could uncover what truly happened to the King of Profound Heaven back then..." By now, Li Fan had seen through Mo Rubin's motive for going to such great lengths. "Then where exactly is this Heart of Xuanhuang?" Li Fan asked at once. Dharma Transmitter Zhou pointed upward toward the sky, and then gestured all around them. "Right here. Or rather, everywhere." "As long as certain conditions are met, one should be able to enter the Heart of Xuanhuang and undergo some form of trial." "If one passes smoothly, when they emerge, they will transform into Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang," Dharma Transmitter Zhou said with a shrug. Li Fan acutely caught a critical issue and asked, "After the Dharma-Transmitting Heavenly Venerable founded the new method, achieving Longevity requires reversing a principle of Heaven and Earth. Then this Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang..." A trace of gloom flashed across Dharma Transmitter Zhou's eyes. "That is precisely what we worry about most. Theoretically, under the influence of the Heavenly Venerable's new method, the process of succeeding as Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang should fail." "However..." "We cannot rule out the possibility that ascending to Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang might bypass the rules established by the venerable lord entirely." "After all, an ordinary Longevity realm cultivator merely reverses and occupies a single principle of Heaven and Earth. But Heavenly Venerable Xuanhuang reaches the heavens in a single bound, directly gaining authority over all the principles of Heaven and Earth."